Improvement in corn dropper and marker



J. A. & J. J. STEPHENSON. Corn Dropper and Marker.

No. 213,788 Patented April l, 1879.

N-FETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D c UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

JAMES A. STEPHENSON AND JOHN J. STEPHENSON, OF MOBMONTOWN, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN DROPPER AND MARKER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 213,738, dated April 1,1879; application filed January 8, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES A. STEPHEN- soN and J oHN' J. STEPHENSON,both of Mormontown, in the county of Taylor and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn Dropper and Marker;and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of thisspecification.

The nature of our invention consists in the construction and arrangementof a corn-dropping and check-rowing attachment for cornplanters, as willbe hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which our inventionappertains to construct and apply our machine, we will now proceed todescribe its construction and operation, referrin g to the annexeddrawings, in which Figure l is a plan view, and Fig. 2 a centralvertical section. Fig. 3 is a detail View of the opener.

A represents the frame of a corn-planter, mounted upon wheels B B. Onthe back of the frame A is hinged a frame, 0, in which is mounted aspoke-wheel, D. On the end of each spoke of this wheel is secured ablock or marker, at, two of which are made longer than the others. Thesetwo long blocks are designed to strike the ground exactly in line withthe hills of corn as they are dropped by the planter, thereby checkingthe rows of corn across the field.

On two arms or spokes of the wheel D are attached two wedge-shaped orcam blocks, 1) b, which are on opposite sides of the wheel, and, as thewheel revolves, work the lever F from side to side to make the drop. Thelever F is pivoted on the axle of the planter-frame, and its rear endprovided with a fork, G, through which the spokes of the wheel pass, andagainst the prongs of which the blocks I) operate to work the lever fromside to side.

This lever may be either straight or curved, as may be required to suitthe style of planter, and its forward end lies in a fork, d, attached tothe slide H of the planter. The fork 01 allows the'lever F to play upand down to suit the movement of the planter.

To the front of the axle of the planter-frame is hinged a scraper orleveler, I, which at the top is provided with a side arm, h, having abent finger, t, at its end.

To the side of the hinged frame 0 is attached a lever, J, which extendsforward over the finger t. By pressing down the lever J the frame 0 israised sufficiently to lift the wheel D 011' the ground, and at the sametime said lever presses down on the finger z, and lifts the scraper orleveler I also out of the ground. A catch or latch, L, is arranged tohold the lever J in this position. When the wheel D is thus raised upfrom the ground, the blocks 1) will pass through an enlargement, G, inthe fork G, and thus stop the dropping. The markers at always passthrough this enlargement.

The scraper or leveler I is arranged to slide in front of the wheel Dand smooth the ground for the wheel to run on, so that there may not beany variation in the action of the wheel on account of hard clods anduneven ground.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the hinged frame 0, carrying the wheel D, andprovided with the lever J, and the scraper I, having arm 71., withfinger i, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we affix oursignatures in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES A. STEPHENSON. JOHN J. STEPHENSON. Witnesses:

A. F. SEvEENs, J. M. DENNIS.

